


Common Sense

by alittlepieceofgundamwing_archivist



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Humor, M/M, POV Duo Maxwell, Preventer mission fluff, Tropes, Yaoi, lime/implied lemon, nasty Relena, post war-ness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 20:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14528112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlepieceofgundamwing_archivist/pseuds/alittlepieceofgundamwing_archivist
Summary: by Honor A. De'Mandoren--"Duo, you look like you're going to your own execution," Quatre muttered to me. "This isn't going to kill you.""You wanna bet?" I growled at him. All five of us were in the limo, waiting in line to be let out in front of Relena's palace. It was the first anniversary of her coronation, and of course *everybody* just *had* to be there. "She hates me.""She doesn't hate you," Heero corrected. He thought for a second before offering, "She just really doesn't like you."





	1. Oh Brother

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).

"Stress:  that confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's desire to choke the living daylights out of some idiot who desperately needs it."  
_-anon_  
  
+  
  
I love parties.   
  
I'm the kind of guy that responds the same way to the word 'party' that a dog would respond to the word 'steak'. I'm up and ready to roll in two seconds flat, panting in anticipation. Everyone knows it too, which is why my current bad humor was so odd.   
  
"Duo, you look like you're going to your own execution," Quatre muttered to me. "This isn't going to kill you."  
  
"You wanna bet?" I growled at him. All five of us were in the limo, waiting in line to be let out in front of Relena's palace. It was the first anniversary of her coronation, and of course *everybody* just *had* to be there. "She hates me."  
  
"She doesn't hate you," Heero corrected. He thought for a second before offering, "She just really doesn't like you."  
  
"See? Even Heero knows she doesn't like me, and he's usually oblivious!" Boy did I get some exasperated glares for that comment. After that they kinda ignored me, or tried to. I can be damn invasive when I want to be.   
  
But the inevitable happened, and we arrived. As soon as we walked through the door, Relena was there to greet Heero. She was nice to Quatre, polite to Trowa, a little nervous with Wufei (for good reasons, which we won't go into here) and then there was me.   
  
"Mr. Maxwell," she greeted coolly.   
  
"Nice party, princess," I replied with a thousand watt grin. Hey, you gotta give me points for effort here. I was trying to be nice.   
  
"Thank you," she returned frostily. "Please enjoy yourselves. Heero, if I may I'd like to introduce you to some people."  
  
Better Heero than me, man. I let him be dragged off, waggling my fingers in a cheerful farewell. I got Death Glared for that, but hey, he was the one that didn't take the opportunity to shoot her in the war. This was a mess of his own making.   
  
Quatre snagged Trowa and started dancing, Wufei slipped off god knows where, leaving me all by my lonesome. You see what happens? You go through a war, through thick and thin, and in the end your best friends desert you.   
  
Actually, they probably didn't want to hear me whine the whole night.   
  
I didn't dare get drunk here; I have absolutely no control over my mouth with alcohol in my system. I did the safe thing, grabbed a cup of some kind of punch, and played wall flower.   
  
As I was innocently minding my own business, trying to survive four hours of boredom (I *knew* I should have found a way to sneak in a game boy), I couldn't help but notice the people; one of them in particular, considering how bloody tall he was. Zechs was standing about ten feet away from me, surrounded by all of these society girls. He had a smile on his face, and was talking politely enough, but his eyes and body stance shouted 'Help! I need back-up! Break out the tear gas!'  
  
I just couldn't leave the poor guy there, ex-enemy or not. I wouldn't wish that fate on my worst enemy (except maybe Relena, but she wouldn't consider it a trial.) Besides, this was the first action I had seen all night. It was either bust him out, or go crazy with boredom. Bracing my shoulders, I set the punch down and waded through perfumed ladies. "Zechsy! There you are, man, I've been looking all over the place for you."  
  
It took a second to click, but the Lightning Count was no slouch. He gave me a dazzling smile and returned the greeting. "Hey Duo. Sorry, I got way-laid by these charming ladies."   
  
Charming, my left eyeball! "Sorry," I told the ladies, "but I'm stealing him from you."  
  
One of them, a willowy redhead with too much makeup on, batted her eyelashes. "Why don't you join us?"  
  
Let me think about this _\--_ ah, no. "A bit later, perhaps. Right now, I get to collect on a debt."  
  
Zechs played his part beautifully, looking pained. "What? Now?"  
  
"Yup. Come on soldier, chin up and all that." I grabbed his arm and started towing him away.   
  
"Balcony doors at two o'clock," Zechs hissed at me.  
  
"Roger." I led the escape into the cool night air, ducking to the side so no one looking through the glass French doors would be able to see us.   
  
"Maxwell, I don't know why you came to my rescue, but I owe you one."   
  
"You looked like you were about two seconds from bolting for freedom," I answered with a wink. "Just do the same for me, sometime."  
  
He snorted and nodded. "It's only fair. If you're here, then I assume all the pilots have arrived?"  
  
We do tend to go a lot of places as a unit. Hm. "Yup. And Relentless is attached to Heero."  
  
Zechs sighed. "One of these days..."  
  
"...he's going to actually shoot her?" I hazarded.   
  
"The world can only hope."  
  
A startled laugh came out of me. Now, I haven't spent more than five minutes (collectively) around Zechs, and that was usually spent in polite greetings as we passed each other in the hallways of HQ. I didn't know he actually had a sense of humor. He was shaping up to be a pretty cool guy, not nearly as uptight as I suspected.   
  
He quirked a white eyebrow at me. "This might be a bit rude _\--_ but I hadn't expected you to be here."  
  
"What, cause your sister thinks I'm evil incarnate? Yeah, well, Heero refused to come without me so she gave in and invited me against her better judgment." I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Misery likes company and all that."  
  
Zechs gave me this penetrating look. "Why do agree?"  
  
"Old habits die hard, I guess." I shrugged, smile crooked. "I'm just too used to watching his back to desert him now. And you? I thought you were on full mission status."  
  
"I was...until my sister intervened. She claims it was too stressful for me." The look he gave the balcony doors said quite plainly that he would rather be back at work.   
  
I couldn't blame him. I'd rather get shot at any day then deal with Her Pushy Pinkness. "Whaddya say we find a nice quiet place to have some fun in?"  
  
"Where my sister won't find us?" Zechs gave me that little scrutiny of his, and then slowly grinned. It reminded me of the grin Quatre gets right before he does something that he knows he isn't supposed to do, but will enjoy doing regardless. "There is this one room in the west wing she doesn't know about..."  
  
I gave him a grin of my own. "Oh by all means, lead the way."  
  
+  
  
I was expecting a room with plushy furniture, some booze, maybe a billiards table, something ritzy you know? That picture was so off I just stopped and stared when Zechs opened the door, my jaw dangling on the floor.   
  
It was a game room! A multi-plex game room, with these huge ass screens and a shelf dominating one room full of games, and bean bags and a huge couch and a snack bar!   
  
"Maxwell?"  
  
I dragged my jaw back up into position and croaked, "Am I in heaven?"  
  
"No," Zechs assured me dryly.   
  
"Are you sure? Cause a room just like this features in my daydreams on a regular basis." I was really surprised that the crown prince of Sanq had built it too.   
  
Apparently my face said something along those lines because he shrugged a little self-consciously. "I know. It's not something people expect of me. It's just...some of these games remind me of Sims that I trained on. They're...fun. Relaxing."  
  
"Hey man, you don't have to explain it all to me!" I gave him a wink, shedding black tie and jacket as I ran for the nearest bean bag. "I am in total agreement with you!" I landed in the bean bag with a soft 'oof' and squirmed around happily. Now *this* was my idea of a good time! "Whaddya in the mood to play?"  
  
Zechs started stripping off jacket and tie too, leaping over the back of the couch and getting comfortable. "Mercenaries?"  
  
My smile was feral. "You're going to regret saying that, man."  
  
+  
  
"MUWAHAHAHA! Meet your Maker! Oh *shit*!" Zechsy was definitely better than I gave him credit for.   
  
"You better run now Maxwell!"  
  
"Naw, it's only a flesh wound! Look, I still have thirty percent life force remaining! Er...twenty, I mean."  
  
"So this is what you two were doing," a voice drawled from the doorway. Wufei sauntered in, brow quirked in amusement.   
  
I paused the game as he came in, sharing a look with Zechs and a forlorn sigh. Shucks, looked like our party was over. "Hey 'Fei. I guess Relentless is throwing a fit, huh?"  
  
"Throwing a fit is mild," he informed me sadistically. "She's ready to tear the house apart."  
  
Zechs gave a martyred sigh and picked up his discarded tie, putting it back on. "Okay, I'm coming. Dare I ask how you knew where this place was?"  
  
"Pargan gave me a hint. Out of Relena's hearing."  
  
"Ah."  
  
I watched Zechs go out the door, shrugging his form-fitting black jacket back on, and felt something like regret. Darnit, he was a cool guy, and I wanted to be friends with him but I wasn't sure if we'd ever get to spend time like this again.   
  
Wufei, damn his eyes, was watching me with that know it all expression on his face.   
  
"What?" I said defensively.   
  
"You like him."  
  
"Well duh! He's cool, and fun to hang out with."  
  
"And sexy," Wufei deadpanned.   
  
"..." Okay, so he was sexy. I was trying not to focus on the hot bod, thank you very much.   
  
Wufei just smirked.   
  
"Oh shut up. Can we blow this place yet?"  
  
"All things considered, I think it would be wise to leave now. I'll get the others. You better head straight for the car."  
  
Knowing how vindictive Relena could be...oh yeah, staying out of sight was a good thing. "I'll get the engine running, shall I?"  
  
I skipped out the door, conveniently forgetting my discarded tie and jacket behind me. Hateful things. And damn uncomfortable too. Using my super-duper memory I traced my way back through all of the hallways and to the front, then tried to find a way to sneak out the side and to our waiting car.   
  
And wandered right into Relena.   
  
Bugger.   
  
This is the *last* time that I go behind enemy lines without memorizing the blue print for the place.   
  
Apparently she had dragged her brother to a side room to lambaste him, instead of doing it in front of her adoring public. She glared at me venomously. "*You*. I should have known better than to invite you! You corrupt everyone around you!"  
  
I choked a little on that one. Me? I've never corrupted a single person in my...well, except Heero...and Quatre, just a little...okay, so maybe I was a bad influence on certain people. But Zechs wasn't in that number!   
  
Zechs gave me a grimace, then sighed in exasperation at his sister "Relena, I told you that it wasn't his doing. I realize that this is a very important party for you, which is why I attended, but you know I don't enjoy these things. My presence here isn't strictly necessary."  
  
"Quite a few ladies asked me about you," Relena snapped. "And just how was I supposed to respond?"  
  
Something smelled here, and it wasn't fried chicken. Why do I get the feeling that Relena wanted her brother out in the party because she was trying to match him up with somebody?   
  
"You aren't my keeper, Relena," Zechs snapped back. "You're my sister, and my younger one at that. I think I can be accountable for my own actions at this point of my life."  
  
I really shouldn't be here. I was just intruding on a family argument. I started scooting back out the door.   
  
"Maxwell!" Relena whirled on me, mouth pinched. "Don't think I'm done with you."  
  
This is absolutely the LAST time that Heero talks me into going anywhere at Relena's invite. "Look, princess, I think we both better just say good night and give each other some space." Wuffers would notice that I'm not where I'm supposed to be and come find me...right?  
  
"We could put the whole universe between us and it wouldn't be enough space!" she snarled. "Leave my brother alone!"  
  
Okay, this was just tiresome. "Relena, I really don't get what you have against me. I've been playing nice all night."  
  
"I'm not an idiot, Maxwell! You can charm your way through anything, and around everyone! First it was Heero, and now it's my brother. I'm tired of it."  
  
What the hell was she getting at? I felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle. The important piece, the one in the middle. "What? What did I do?"  
  
"Heero refuses to think of me as a lover because of you! I'm not about to let you seduce my brother away from me as well!"  
  
Zechs and I both were just staring at her in dumb amazement. Okay, I know I'm not exactly a slouch in the looks department. I'm not the next Cary Grant by any means, but I'm not Frankenstein either, y'know? I just couldn't reconcile with her picture of me though. "So...let me get this straight. You think I'm some kind of Casanova for the male species?"  
  
"Don't play dumb with me, Duo!"  
  
"Relena," Zechs drawled, "I'll admit that Duo certainly looks the part _\--_ "  
  
I felt absurdly flattered by that statement.   
  
" _\--_ however, he hasn't tried to seduce me. We were just enjoying each other's company."  
  
"I'm supposed to believe that two ex-enemies were just enjoying the evening?" she delivered scathingly.   
  
"Hey," I interjected, "I can't blame the guy for being a bit mixed up and joining up with the wrong side of the Force, y'know? I got damned confused on who I was supposed to fight quite a few times. At least he's got his head screwed on straight now, which can't be said of other people." Like you. I was very proud of myself for NOT saying that last bit.  
  
A miracle intervened at that moment, in the form of Quatre. He knocked semi-politely on the half open door before coming in. "Duo, I've been looking for you." There was an edge to his smile that assured me that wasn't a good thing. "I have an early meeting tomorrow, as does Trowa. We need to leave now."  
  
Leaving? Even if I am in trouble, take me with you! "Sure thing, Q. Well, Relentless, it was real. Later." I felt kinda sorry for Zechs being stuck there, and offered him a wink as I sidled out the door. "I'm open for a rematch anytime, sexy. Look me up, okay?"  
  
Zechs blinked at me then grinned a little. "Okay."  
  
Quatre grabbed my arm and tugged me away. He kept a firm grip on me all the way to the car, and kept it that way until the car was in motion and the house was out of sight behind us. That's just mean, I don't get into trouble that often!  
  
I took a quick glance around at my team mates. Heero was exhausted (and probably mentally preparing contingency plans for any future invitations from Relena) Wufei was eagerly waiting for Quatre to lay into me (the rat fink) and Trowa was half-asleep on the far side of the limo.   
  
"Duo," Quatre growled. "Just once, I wish you would behave in public!"  
  
"I was being good!" I protested. "Look, Zechs was surrounded by a bunch of females and about to bolt, so I helped him out. And we kinda got distracted by playing some games, and then...well, I guess you know what happened then."  
  
"Oh yes," Quatre growled in exasperation. "I know exactly what happened then. Fortunately, Relena waited until we were all out of ear shot before ranting, but rant she did. About *you*. And how you can't be trusted around attractive men. And *I* had the pleasant experience of trying to talk her down before she laid her hands on a butcher knife and went for you!"  
  
Eek. Q's pissed. I know he hates dealing with Relena. "She's got a really warped view of me," I grumbled. "And I don't get why."  
  
"Duo," Wufei apparently had to add in his two cents worth, or knowing him, two credits worth, "you don't really understand the effect you have on people. You effortlessly slide into any circle of society _\--_ Relena doesn't have a prayer of doing that, no matter how hard she tries. Granted, she's jealous of that, but some of what she says is true. You truly do influence people to follow along with your view of things."  
  
"Influencing people, okay I can see that. But I don't seduce every male thing that moves!"  
  
Heero turned and looked at me funny, and even Trowa stopped pretending he was asleep.   
  
"She accused you of that?" Heero asked with this little perplexed frown on his face.   
  
"She said, and I paraphrase, that I had seduced you which is why you won't have anything to do with her romantically, and she wasn't about to let me do the same thing to her brother. End paraphrase." I rolled my eyes. "I mean, come on! I'm not this living embodiment of sex or anything. Q-bean's probably the sexiest guy among us."  
  
Quatre blinked at me stupidly. "What? Me? I'm not sexy."  
  
Trowa, naturally, couldn't let that rest. "I think you're sexy."  
  
"See?" I said to Q. "He agrees with me."  
  
"Of course he agrees with you," Quatre shot back in exasperation. "He's prejudiced!"  
  
Trowa shrugged, apparently unwilling to refute that.   
  
I flapped my hands to get us back to the main topic. "Anyway, my point is, Relena has this warped idea about me and I don't want to have anything more to do with her. Heero, I hope you're with me on this one."  
  
Heero nodded fervently. "We'll make up a mission if we have to."  
  
Good ol' Heero. I knew I could count on him.


	2. License To Be Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Honor A. De'Mandoren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).

Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.  
_\- Frank Lloyd Wright_  
  
+  
  
Bright and early Monday morning (whoever decided that the working day needed to start at eight needs their head examined) Une called me into her office. Since I hadn't done anything to warrant my boss yelling at me, I dared to hope that I was getting a mission. I hate paperwork.   
  
Knocking politely, I stuck my head inside her office and beamed. "There's my favorite boss! A top of the mornin' to ya."  
  
Une was so used to me, she didn't even blink. "Sit down, Maxwell."  
  
Yup, judging from her tone, we are definitely thinking mission. Whoopee! I sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk, ears perked like an eager puppy.   
  
"What do you think of Zechs Marquise?"  
  
Aw...nuts. Relena had called her. Or...maybe not. She didn't look pissed, just neutral. I cocked my head, trying to figure out where she was going with this. "Don't know him real well. I like what I saw, though. He's fun, he's level-headed, he's sexy. Why do you ask?"  
  
Une steepled her fingers right in front of her face for a moment, just looking at me. "What would your reaction be if I told you he will be your partner for a mission?"  
  
Me and Zechs? Working together? Ahhh... "Why? I thought you wanted me with Heero. Or 'Fei."  
  
"Usually, yes, because they need your people skills. However, this new mission requires absolute people skills, your hacking abilities, and Zech's political connections and name."  
  
And what kind of a mission would require those things? "I'm not against it. I've never worked with him before, so I can't really say if it's going to work well or not, but I don't have a problem with it."  
  
"No lingering animosity from the war?"  
  
"Hell no. For one thing, I never fought against Zechs. He always went after Heero. If anything, I should feel insulted that he never went for me."   
  
Une rolled her eyes at that reasoning.   
  
I decided it was wise to keep going. "Anyway, point is, I have no problems working with Blondie. That being said, what kind of a mission is this? And _\--_ " A thought hit me, and I switched directions mid-sentence. "Actually, how are you able to call him in? I met Zechs at Relena's shindig the other night and he told me that he wasn't on active duty."  
  
Une gave me this Look which adequately expressed her displeasure with Relena. "She made a request that Zechs be pulled from active duty. And she pulled enough strings to where I had to agree. But this is sensitive and important enough that I can bring him back in."  
  
"He'll be happy to hear that," I informed her. "He's going stir crazy."  
  
"Yes, I imagine so. Now, there is a mini-mission you must perform before your actual mission can start." Une started smiling a little, which scared me down to my toes. She leaned forward slightly, that little smile still playing over her mouth. "Duo, I need you to go kidnap Zechs."  
  
It took a second to sink in...then I joined her in smiling evilly. "You want me to sneak into Relena's palace, get Zechs, then sneak back out without her being the wiser?"  
  
"Precisely."  
  
Ooh! And after Relena had done that whole 'leave my brother alone' spiel! I gotta love it when my boss tells me to do something bad. I beamed at her. "Your wish is my command, boss!"  
  
"Get going, I want you to bring Zechs back for the briefing. Oh, and this _\--_ " she took out a slip of paper and handed it to me, along with a set of keys " _\--_ is your vehicle to use for the duration."  
  
One of the keys had 'Corvette' written on it. I have a feeling that I'm going to LOVE this mission. "Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am!"  
  
"And Maxwell, try not to get too many tickets."  
  
Tickets? Like the cops can even catch me!  
  
+  
  
I've gone through many walls and barricades in my time, been through the best security systems ever devised, fought my way through armed men that had gorilla mothers. When I snuck inside Relena's palace...it was like a walk in the park. I could not believe how easy it was to get inside. I mean, it was seriously sad. I was tempted to just stroll openly across the lawn, it was that easy.   
  
But I restrained myself, went to Zech's playroom, er...I mean, game room and quietly slid the window open. I had a hunch he would be in that room, considering that Relena doesn't know where it is. If I had a room that Relena didn't know about, that's where I would be spending most of my time.  
  
Now, to the stud muffin's credit, he had a gun out and pointing in my face the second that window started going up. At least I didn't have to worry about him guarding my back. I winked at him. "Hey sexy. We have seriously got to talk about the security around here, man. It sucks. I mean, as a Gundam pilot, there's just a certain standard that needs to be upheld y'know?"  
  
Zechs blinked at me, but put the gun away. "Duo? What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm your get out of jail free card. Une told me to come kidnap you."  
  
The poor guy looked like he was ready to cry tears of joy. "Mission?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Move over Maxwell, I'm coming through."  
  
I slid to the side so he could duck through the window. "You wanna grab some clothes?"  
  
"Whatever I need, I'll buy."  
  
Translation: get going before the wicked witch of Sanq catches up with us. Roger that! I led the way back out of the immaculate palace, and hopped into the driver seat of my new sleek red Corvette. Zechs hopped into the passenger side (it was so nice to ride around with someone who didn't fight to drive every damn time) and we took off in a squeal of tires.   
  
Zechs was grinning like a loon, apparently enjoying the free air. It made me wonder a bit about him. I mean, Heero and Trowa both had said a few things about the Lightning Count. And even if I hadn't fought against him directly, I had fought his men. He wasn't a pushover by any means. I had to wonder why he was putting up with Relena's crap. Maybe because they were siblings? "So...did Relena keep yelling at you after we left?"  
  
"She tried. I just walked away." He turned more toward me, face serious. "I'm sorry about what she said."  
  
"No big," I negated with a flick of my hand. "She's always hated me. Mostly 'cause of Heero, but I think even without him we'd be enemies. There's just something about me that bugs her. And I have to admit, I love bugging her."  
  
Zechs snorted, lips twitching. God, he's hot when he does that. "That's probably what does it right there. May I ask, why did you come and bust me out? What's the mission?"  
  
"Une didn't tell me. She wanted to brief us both at once."  
  
That really made him sit up and pay attention. "We're partnering on this mission?"  
  
"A-yup." A thought hit me. Une had made sure that I was cool working with Zechs...but was Zechs cool about working with me? "Um...you're okay with that?"  
  
"I'd much rather partner with you than deal with Relena."  
  
I gave him a sour look. "Gee, thanks."  
  
He turned back to the road, relaxed and comfortable in his seat. "Seriously, Duo...what you said the other night struck home. We aren't enemies. We were just on opposite sides in a very confusing war. Hell, I think I changed sides about five times. This time..." he sighed softly. "This time, at least, I'm on the right side for the right reasons."  
  
I watched him out of the corner of my eye. Yeah, I could work with this guy. It might have taken him awhile, but he was pretty centered now. "Yup. And I'm glad of it. Heero is still grumbling about never really finishing that fight with you, and I gotta tell you it's scary to think that anybody can fight my good buddy for three hours and end in a tie. Don't be surprised if he maneuvers you into finishing that fight."   
  
Zechs started smirking, apparently very pleased with that. "I don't think Une will approve of her agents killing each other off."  
  
"Naw, we're supposed to avoid bloodshed and all that." Speaking of bloodshed... "Hey Zechs, I know Une wants to keep it quiet that I stole you and everything but _\--_ " I gave him a quick, imploring smile " _\--_ don't you want to rub it in your sister's face that I stole you?"  
  
Zechs frowned at me severely. "Agent Maxwell, are you suggesting going against your superior's direct order?"  
  
"It wasn't a direct order, it was an assumed one."  
  
He thought that over for a minute. "Oh. Well, in that case, what do you have in mind?"  
  
Yup, me and Zechs are going to work together just fine.   
  
+  
  
I simply could not believe my ears. What I heard simply couldn't be right. I looked at my newly minted partner, and was gratified to see the same expression of disbelief. Good, apparently I wasn't losing my mind. Une really did just tell us that we were going to a summer resort, all expenses paid, with no time limit. "Une, babe, you know I love ya and I'm your favorite agent and all that, but what did I do to deserve the royal treatment?"  
  
Une quirked an eyebrow at me, apparently getting a kick out of our reactions. "There is high level classified material coming out of that resort. We don't know why, we don't know who, and we don't know how. All we know is that it's coming from that area. It's up to you to figure it out."  
  
I looked at the folder sitting in my lap. Apparently the few details that we did know would be in there. Joy. Maybe I could talk Zechs into reading it and giving me the Cliff Notes version. "And the reason why you wanted people with a personality on this one is...?"  
  
"That resort caters to a particular age group and level of society. Age fifteen to twenty-five, and these are usually ambassadors' children, idols, actors, that sort of thing."  
  
The really elite spoiled rich kids in other words. Oh boy. No wonder she wanted me and Zechs. "Kay. Anything else?"  
  
"If Relena calls, I don't know where either of you are."  
  
God, I love this woman. I gave her a snappy salute. "Thanks, boss."   
  
"Shoo. Don't update me until you have something worthwhile to report."  
  
Zechs and I left her office and started for the 'vette. I sent a quick text message to Quatre as we walked. 'Mission. Gone for a while.'  
  
"Alerting someone?" Zechs inquired with a little interest.   
  
"Yup. Q-bean goes through the roof if one of us goes somewhere without informing him. And I don't want a bunch of Maguanacs chasing me down, thanks."  
  
Zechs gave me an odd look. "You don't strike me as the type to..."  
  
"What? Put up with mother hens?" We hit the outside and I lifted my face to the sky. Mm. Beautiful day. Maybe I should put the top down on the 'vette. "Truthfully, it's nice to have someone worry about me. And it doesn't cost me anything to tell my friends that I'll be gone for a while, so they don't worry." I gave him a challenging smile as we turned for the car. "But that doesn't fit my image, right?"  
  
"My 'image' of you is rather shaky and based on a lot of rumor and hearsay. I just thought you fiercely independent."  
  
"Funny, I thought the same of you." Heck, if he wanted to psycho analyze, then he had to be in the game too.  
  
"Cow-towing to Relena you mean?" He had a guilty look on his face. "There's...other reasons for that."  
  
I felt bad suddenly for pressing the issue. "Hey man, just chill, 'kay? Look, there is something you have to understand about me. I like to talk about people, know what makes them tick, and sometimes I go too far. Just tell me to shut up, or pull a Heero and start heaping death threats on my head. I'll stop."  
  
Zechs shook his head and walked around the car to get into the passenger side. "I started it, didn't I?"  
  
"Yeah. But you can still tell me to shut up." I slid into the driver's seat and gunned the engine. God, I love sports cars! "So, let's do some shopping shall we?"  
  
+  
  
The only person that I really shop with on a regular basis is Quatre, sometimes Sally. Shopping with anyone else drives me nuts. Heero and Wufei both calculate the distance between whatever they want, the cashiers, and the front door _\--_ I kid you not. And they research everything online before they buy it, up to and including their socks. Trowa doesn't usually go shopping at all, just bribes Quatre into doing it for him.   
  
Zechs, surprisingly, was fun to shop with.   
  
At first we both played it cool. Just here to get some stuff, need to fit in with the image of the resort, mission oriented only, blah blah blah. Then I picked out an ice blue shirt and tossed it at him, and he spotted a pair of jeans that fit me perfectly, and we gave up on pretense.   
  
It took four hours to shop for 'mission oriented clothing' and we had a blast. We both love shopping for clothes, and looking spiffy. I think we must have spent about five thousand between the two of us. Accounting was going to have a coronary.   
  
And, of course, part of all that shopping was buying Relena's 'present'. Namely, a shirt that said "I've Been Had By the Sexy Duo Maxwell", nicely wrapped and sent to her palace. Not one of my most creative pranks, I have to admit, but we were kinda short on time, and this got the message across beautifully.   
  
The trunk of the 'vette could barely hold everything by the time we called it quits. It was really late in the day too, and there was a rumbly in my tumbly, so I voted for dinner. "You hungry?"  
  
"Yes. Shall we go to our hotel room and call for room service?"  
  
It was the safe thing to do, and I nodded in quick agreement. We went to our ritzy hotel, called in room service (I think Zechs was secretly choking on how much food I ordered, but hey, I'm a growing boy, I need my calories) and while we were waiting for the food to get there, we went ahead and got comfy.   
  
Did you know that Zechs doesn't wear a top to bed?  
  
I found that point quite riveting, myself.   
  
Zechs has a very, and I do emphasize VERY nice chest. I had to watch myself otherwise I would start drooling openly. I didn't think I could compete with that kind of build and went with a t-shirt over my Ho-ho's.   
  
He gave my pj bottoms a scrutiny, mouth screwing up in a smile. "Aren't those a little out of season?"  
  
I looked down at myself. My ho-ho's, as I call them, are red and white pajama bottoms with "ho ho ho" written all over them. "Q got them for me for Christmas. But they're warm and comfy, I like wearing them. Besides," I couldn't help but adding, "Heero keeps giving me funny looks when I wear them out of season. I just have to mess with the guy's mind."  
  
Zechs started shaking his head, chuckling. "Maxwell, you are an original."  
  
"Why thank you," I purred. I climbed up onto my bed (the room had two full size sleigh beds) and got comfy. "So...I've always wondered, why did you go after Heero and nobody else?"  
  
He sighed, looking down at his hands. "I thought you might ask me that."  
  
"You can always tell me to shut up," I reminded him quietly.   
  
"...no. I'd be wondering the same thing, in your shoes. The truth is, I admired Heero's focus. He just seemed to know precisely what he was doing, and why he was doing it. I thought that maybe, if I fought him, I could learn to think the same way he did."  
  
He'd been looking for his own focus, poor guy. "Zechs, I gotta tell ya, that makes no sense."  
  
There was a rueful shake of the head. "Looking back on it...I rather agree with you. At the time, though..."  
  
"Well, as long as it was that, and you weren't snobbing me or something."   
  
There was a knock on the door, and I exploded from the bed. "FOOD!" My lovely food, come to meet its new home. The maid that brought it in was about fifty, and looked like she hadn't had a good day. Once she set the food out for us, I slipped a twenty into her pocket and hugged her just 'cause. She started blushing, but she was smiling too. Well, there was my good deed for the day!   
  
Our maid wandered off in a giddy daze, and I dug into the spread. Steak, and fries, and baked potatoes, and ice cream, and cake and lots of root beer. Hog heaven!   
  
Zechs went with a simple steak dinner and a baked potato. He kept watching me while I ate, as if he were trying to figure out where I put it all. He said it in a very polite way, though. "High metabolism?"  
  
"No," I told him with great dignity. "I have a hollow leg."  
  
I swear his lips twitched, but his face remained admirably grave. "A rare condition. I hope you're getting treatment for it."  
  
Damn the man, but he does have a wicked sense of humor hidden behind those absolutely gorgeous eyes. "Sally says it's untreatable and that I'll be fat by the time I'm thirty."  
  
"Somehow, I have a hard time picturing that." He pushed his plate back and went to his bed, snatching up a hair brush as he went.   
  
Okay, intellectually I knew that Zechs's hair was almost as long as mine, but...I never really paid a lot of attention to it until now. It was gorgeous, and thick. I got a weird sense of déjà vu watching him...is this what the guys saw when I took my hair down and brushed through it? I pushed away from the table and retreated to my bed, watching him in absolute fascination.   
  
Zechs gave me a glance askance. "What? You do this too."  
  
"Yeah, but...how do you put up with it just loose like that? It would drive me nuts."  
  
"The truth is, it's so fine I can't get it to really stay back." He shrugged a shoulder and switched to work his brush through the other side.   
  
Hm...he did have a lot of hair, but the strands did look finer than my own. Feeling a little weird (don't ask me why, I have no idea) I shook my hair out of its braid and started running a brush through it. It was Zechs's turn to stare. "Okay," I grouched at him playfully. "What's your excuse?"  
  
"I've never seen it down," he murmured. His eyes were taking me in thoughtfully. "I remember Winner saying something about it once _\--_ that it was very personal to you."  
  
Personal? Well...kinda. I gathered a lock thoughtfully between my fingers, smoothing it over. "Important is a better word. Holds a lot of memories."  
  
My cellphone chose that moment to ring.   
  
"They're going to take me away, ha ha! They're going to take me away ha ha! To the Funny Farm _\--_ "  
  
Even as I flipped it open to answer, I noticed that Zechs was fighting back laughter. What? I thought it was an appropriate ring tone for me. "Yo."  
  
<<Duo, what the hell do you think you're doing?>>  
  
"Hm...me and Zechs were going to have kinky sex in a minute," I told Wufei seriously. Zechs nearly fell of the bed, so I just had to keep going. "Why? You want a threesome?"   
  
<<MAXWELLL!!!!>>  
  
Color me evil, but I love teasing Wufei over a phone. I'm safely out of reach that way. "Didn't Quatre pass on the message? I'm on a mission."  
  
<<Yes, we know you're on a mission,>> Wufei snapped. <<What I want to know is why you have Zechs!>>  
  
Apparently Une hadn't updated the guys on the situation. Gah. "He's my partner."  
  
<<Relena is ready to kill! Especially with that prank you pulled on her!...wait, did you say partner?>>   
  
"Yup."  
  
<<Une approved this?>>  
  
"Une suggested it, *I* approved it."  
  
<<Oh.>>  
  
I waited for that to process.   
  
<<This isn't a serious mission is it?>>  
  
I rolled my eyes. "You're all a bunch of mother hens. Look, 'Fei, Zechs was a Gundam pilot too, and a damn good one. I have no qualms about him guarding my back. Now, tell Heero to stop searching for me, tell Trowa to distract Quatre, and go smooch on Sally, okay?"  
  
<<DUO!>>  
  
"Nighty-night, Wuffers." I shut the phone off and gave Zechs a helpless shrug. "Relena apparently has stirred up trouble. I am delighted to report that she liked our prank, though."  
  
"Ah. I had wondered what set Chang off."   
  
"It don't take much," I agreed dryly. "Shall we be good little boys and go to sleep?"


	3. Let The Games Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Honor A. De'Mandoren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.  
_\- Oscar Levant_  
  
+  
  
Buena Vista Resort was gorgeous, setting just above the beach on a small rise, on the beautiful California coast. I fell in love instantly. Ahhh...sunshine, luxury, and sexy men in bathing suits, could one ask for more?   
  
We checked in, had our luggage sent up to our rooms via bell boy then wandered around to get a feel for the place. I was not oblivious to the amount of attention we were attracting. Zechs looked like he could be an actor in his own right, and I was probably mistaken for his bratty little cousin or something. This was a really ritzy place, I had to wonder how Une managed to get a budget for this mission...  
  
"Duo," Zechs murmured as we made our way across the lobby.   
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do me a favor."  
  
Now this was new. "What?"  
  
"Stick close."  
  
I looked around quickly, but didn't see any imminent threat. "Why?"  
  
"Because about half the people in this hotel are willing to kidnap you just so they can have some fun with you."  
  
...it's now official. I have five mother hens. "Zechs, the other half are looking at *you* man."  
  
"That's the other reason why I want you to stick close."   
  
I blinked at him. Back-up, going both ways? Okay, that was cool. "Roger that. Let's go up and read a certain file, and come up with a line of attack."  
  
"Sounds good," Zechs agreed.   
  
+  
  
Zechs, the rat fink, made me read the file too. No Cliff Notes version. When I made the suggestion, he gave me the exact same look that Heero would have, one of exasperation and disbelief that I would even suggest such a thing. Ye gods, no wonder Heero considered Zechs his personal nemesis. These two acted so alike in some ways it was downright scary.   
  
I was sprawled out on the edge of the bed, Zechs propped up against the headboard, papers lying all around us chaotically. There was one point in Zechs's favor _\--_ he wasn't absolutely anal about keeping everything neat. Heero and Wufei drove me crazy sometimes about that.   
  
I wriggled around until I was on my back, a paper held up in the air above my head. "So...classified secrets are getting out, none of it dating more than a week old. We know the contact is somehow a part of this hotel, but we don't know if its staff, a guest, or the statue in the water fountain outside."  
  
"We're not even sure how they're getting the information," Zechs sighed. "Who put this preliminary report together?"  
  
"My guess? Either a complete greenie, or an ape masquerading as an agent."  
  
"I'd go with the ape," Zechs replied sourly. "It's more plausible."  
  
On that, I had to agree with him. This huge, thick packet of information could be whittled down to about two sentences. 'It's happening at this resort. More information to follow.' Gah! "Okay, my illustrious partner, what next?"  
  
"I think it's time we rub elbows, and get a feel for the people here."  
  
"Great idea. Beach or game room?"  
  
+  
  
I had to turn my cellphone back on, naturally. I mean, we were in a mission, right? Missions require communication and all that fun stuff. Still, I knew what was going to happen when I turned on that phone.   
  
"Duo?"  
  
"Yeah?" I didn't lift my eyes from the phone.   
  
"Is there a reason why you're staring at your phone like you expect it to go off any second?"  
  
Grudgingly I turned it on and listened to its little welcome chime as it warmed up. "Well...Relena knows that I kidnapped you. And she'll yell at Heero."  
  
"And Heero will try to contact you?" Zechs hazarded. He seemed a little amused by the situation.   
  
I nodded glumly. Yup, just like I figured. Ten messages were waiting for me. I listened to my mailbox as we made our way down to the game room. The first eight messages were straight and to the point, almost word for word verbatim. <<Duo. Call me back. NOW.>>  
  
The next two deviated from the scrip a little.   
  
<<Duo, what the hell are you playing at? I know you're on a mission, Une gave me a brief outline, but why did you take ZECHS? Call me back, dammit! Explain!>>  
  
I sighed.   
  
"Duo, I heard that from over here," Zechs muttered to me. He pulled me to the side a little so we were out of the way, toward one of the big bay windows.   
  
I felt bad for the guy. He looked a little...downhearted that nobody trusted him. "Look, Z, don't take this personally. Heero has a conniption if I go out on a mission with *Wuffers* without talking to him first. He's really protective of all of us...for some rather good reasons. The situation is just made worse because he's got Relena yelling at him too."  
  
I deleted all the messages, trying to figure out a way to smooth this over with Zechs. You just had to live with Heero to understand where the guy was coming from _\--_ oh boy. My phone started ringing again and I quickly hit the accept key. "Yo."  
  
<<Hi, Duo!>>  
  
Thank god! A sane person! "Hey, Q. What's up?"  
  
<<Une said it was safe to contact you. Can you talk now?>>  
  
"Go right ahead."  
  
<<I just wanted to give you an update on the situation here. I know Heero called you a few times. He said he couldn't get a hold of you.>>  
  
"I turned my phone off," I explained quickly.   
  
<<Ah. Probably a good thing. Relena came by here last night, looking for Zechs. I thought she was ready to throw a fit when she didn't find him _\--_ or you. That got Heero stirred up. Does Zechs know anything about this?>>  
  
I winced. "Yeah."  
  
<<Hm. Put him on.>>  
  
I handed the phone over to Zechs. He took it with a questioning look at me, but answered it cordially enough. "Winner? Yes, I'm aware of the phone calls. No, it's..." His face softened a little. "Thank you. Even if it is the truth, it's good to hear it. We've made no progress so far. The preliminary report didn't give us much to go on."  
  
Didn't give us much, he says. It didn't give us anything to go on!  
  
"Yes...I appreciate that. Alright. I owe you one for this. No, seriously. Do you want Duo back? Okay." Zechs handed the phone back to me.   
  
I was grateful to see that whatever Quatre had said worked to bring his normal confidence level back up. "Q?"  
  
<<I told him point blank what was going on. We trust him to watch your back, Duo. It's just Heero's paranoia at work. Ignore him. Other than that, we're all open right now. If you need help or just information, feel free to ask.>>  
  
A light bulb went on. "Hang on, Q." I covered the end of my phone to talk to Zechs. "Look, how would you feel about Heero doing some hacking for us? If that info is on the blackmarket, odds are there's an electronic trail about it, at least a little. Heero's better at that sort of thing than I am."  
  
Zechs thought it through, then slowly nodded. "Do it."  
  
I took my hand off. "Hey Q? Tell 'Ro to warm his fingers up. I need info on what's floating around in scummier sides of life."  
  
<<Can do. Anything else?>>  
  
"Tell Relena that I'm doing obscene things to her brother...with my tongue."  
  
<<Do I look suicidal? You tell her. Bye, Duo.>>  
  
"Bye, Cat."   
  
Zechs was shaking his head at me as I put my phone away. "Do you have a death wish?"  
  
"Relena doesn't scare me," I told him confidently. "I'm meaner than she is. So, let's go tackle some games, eh? I still owe you for killing my guy."  
  
+  
  
Part of infiltration meant getting the hang of how things flowed. Me and Zechs, being brand new to the scene, would have to get used to how things worked around here. We spent an hour or so in the game room (I won! HAHAHA!) then we decided that the beach was a definite part of the resort and went back up to our rooms to change into beachy clothes.   
  
Zechs slipped into these dark blue trunks, and flip flops _\--_ and sunglasses. That's it. He's got a really nice build on him, with those long lanky legs and delectable muscles. The trunks especially advertised how nice his ass was. And hey, I'm only human! I was just a little turned on by the view. Hell, the *Pope* would have been turned on by the view.  
  
I noticed that when I had changed into my red trunks (I included a very light windbreaker, though, cause I burn pretty easy) that Zechs gave me the once over too. And his eyes definitely lingered over certain parts of my manly physique. Hm. Maybe Relena warned me off her brother because she knows he doesn't like to play with girls?   
  
Hm. Now isn't that an interesting thought.   
  
"We better put on sunscreen before we go out," I said cheerfully. "We're gonna looked like broiled lobster otherwise."  
  
Zechs gave himself a rueful look. "I do burn rather easily."   
  
We started slathering sunscreen on, but of course neither one of us could reach our own backs. Zechs pulled his hair out of the way and I started rubbing sunscreen over his skin. Duo Jr. expressed his appreciation of how Zechs felt under my fingertips, which was something I didn't need at the moment. Down boy, wait your turn. "Okay, all done."   
  
We flipped directions, and I pulled my braid around so he could do my back. Ahhh...the feel of a man's hands on my bare skin. Marvelous feeling. It's been way too long too. A certain part of my anatomy _\--_ the one controlled by hormones _\--_ agreed with that sentiment completely, but it wasn't like I could really do something about it right this minute.   
  
Zech's hand paused, and I could feel him stroke a certain scar with one finger. "How did this happen?"  
  
"Ahhh...that's one of the reasons why Heero doesn't let us go out on solo missions anymore. I got stabbed in the back by one of G's informants. Bastard was a turncoat. I barely got home." I snuck a peek at him over my shoulder.   
  
Zechs looked really troubled, and his finger was still tracing that scar. "Looked like it went deep."  
  
My nerves were tingling as he kept tracing that scar. It felt almost like a caress. "Yeah, well, it was the blood loss that nearly did me in. That and the fact that I couldn't let it heal up. I kept busting the damn thing open before it really had a chance to heal. But it didn't hit anything vital, y'know? Just left a very impressive scar." I felt vaguely uncomfortable under that intense scrutiny. "You done back there?"  
  
"A moment." Two more swipes, and he climbed off the bed. "Ready?"  
  
"Yup." I bounced out the door, shrugging my windbreaker back on and putting on sunglasses. I noticed that Zechs had added a white shirt, left unbuttoned. I was profusely thankful for the added clothing.   
  
We ventured out in the sunshine and the sand. I was mentally rehearsing a way to get friendly with the natives. Turns out I didn't need to bother. They wanted to get friendly with *us*. About four girls and two guys mobbed us right as we touched down on the beach, nearly vibrating in excitement.   
  
"Hi! I'm Sharon Vanderbuilt. I saw you guys coming in this morning..." she trailed off, giving us a charming smile.   
  
Une had specifically told us to use our real names during this mission, which was kinda odd, but all things considered a good idea. I smiled at her. "Duo Maxwell. This is Zechs Marquise."  
  
The girls exchanged excited smiles, the guys looked vaguely impressed. "I'm Luke," a tall brunette said while offering a hand. "You were a Gundam pilot, right?"  
  
"Yup." I accepted the hand, mentally assessing him. If this guy had ever done a hard day's work, it was in bed. All his muscles were from the gym, and were mostly there for show. "We both were. Just here for some sunshine and relaxation."  
  
"As we're new on the scene," Zechs added with his own charming smile (it made my knees go weak) "perhaps you can tell us where the best places are."  
  
"Oh, we'll show you!" another girl piped up. "Just follow us, alright?"  
  
Damn, that was easy. This would have been harder with Heero or Wufei in tow _\--_ social, they were not. I kept up a good conversation with the girls, Zechs with the guys, then without them even noticing, we slowly switched places. They might have been raised in high families, and had the best schooling, and yadda yadda, but these guys had no common sense. Me and Zechs were playing them like a world class violinist and they didn't even notice.   
  
We met some more of their friends, got told about *the* spots to go, had lunch, then claimed we were burning up and retreated back to our room. I flopped back onto the bed, my poor head aching a little. That sun was blinding, I definitely needed to invest in sunglasses. "So? Impressions?"  
  
"They might have the connections to get the information," Zechs flopped back onto his bed in similar fashion, "but they would have been caught by now. I couldn't believe some of the stupid things they were saying."  
  
"Ditto. Okay, so odds are its hotel staff. That kinda makes sense, now that I think about it. I mean, this has been happening for a week straight, right? Most of these guys don't stay more than three or four days. It's gotta be staff."  
  
Zechs nodded in agreement. "You're probably right, but we shouldn't out rule guests just yet. We have no real evidence either way."  
  
"Just a hunch," I agreed wearily. I hate hunches. For one thing, they're damn hard to defend to someone else. "Okay, so what next?"  
  
"Can you break into the building's security system?"  
  
I blinked at him. "Is the sky blue? Of course I can. You want control over it?"  
  
"It might be a good thing to set up now. We might not have the luxury of doing it later, and we might need it."  
  
Good point. "Okay. I'll break out my laptop and get at it. What are you going to do?"  
  
"Contact Une and see if we can talk to the ape in agent's clothing. Maybe if I lean on him hard enough, he'll give us more detail to work off of. He can at least tell us what information was leaked."  
  
Geez, he was just full of good ideas today. "Go for it."  
  
I dragged out my laptop, did a quick wriggle to get comfortable, and set to it.   
  
+  
  
Hotel security? What hotel security? A *five* *year* *old* could break into this thing! Note to self: do not put any valuables in hotel safe. Don't let Zechs do it either.   
  
Speaking of my gorgeous partner, where had he gotten off to? I put the laptop down and wandered into the living room. Zechs was standing near the window, phone at his ear and a scowl on his face. I wonder if he even knows that he's standing at military attention...or how hot he looks doing it.   
  
" _\--_ you're telling me that you can't give me any more information than that? What kind of an agent are you? How did you even know it was happening in the first place?" Whatever he was told made Zechs drop his head in one hand. "*Accident*? How can you discover such at thing by accident?! ...please tell me you're kidding. Alright, I want that email sent to me immediately, then I want a written report on why that wasn't included in your *first* report. Is that understood? Good. Marquise, out."  
  
I knew I wasn't going to like the answer, but I had to ask anyway. "So what's the story?"  
  
Zechs put the phone down, still rubbing at his temples. "The reason why we know anything at all is because the agent in question got an email _\--_ at his personal email address, not his official one _\--_ that had classified information in it. He traced it back to the computer lab of this resort. End of story."  
  
I waited for the punchline. When it didn't come I groaned. "Good grief, no wonder Une sent us in on this! There really isn't anything to go off of!"  
  
Zechs shrugged in agreement. "You're into the hotel security?"  
  
"Yup. Do me a favor, don't put anything within hotel safe keeping. A five year old could break into this place."  
  
He sighed, giving me a pained look. "Why doesn't that surprise me? Let's go check my email."  
  
The email, unfortunately, wasn't that informative. I leaned over Zech's shoulder as we read it through. That part was more informative. He smells absolutely fantastic. I wonder what shampoo he uses... Focus, Maxwell.   
  
The email was pretty straightforward. <<I got it in under ten hours, so pay up. Here's the proof.>> Attached was the classified information. There was no signature, and the email address was totally@yahoo.com. That's it. Odds are, whoever sent it had typed in the wrong address, which is how our ape agent got it in the first place. What kind of an idiot can hack into a very secure mainframe, steal classified information, then send it to the wrong person? "I can almost see why he didn't include it in the report," I grumbled.   
  
"It gives us little to go on," Zechs agreed.   
  
I read it through again (and no, it wasn't an excuse to stay half-draped over sexy's back) but this time something caught my attention. "I got it in under ten hours so pay up...does that sound like a bet to you?"  
  
He blinked, then turned a little to look up at me thoughtfully. "It does, now that you mention it. Do petty informants usually make bets with their buyers on how fast they can get the information?"  
  
"In my experience, no." Something was teasing at the back of my mind. I just needed to sleep on it and see what swam to the surface. "Email that to Heero. He'll be glad to get something new to chew on. And then...dinner?"  
  
"Duo, is there ever a time that you're *not* hungry?"  
  
I considered that. "Not that I know of, no."  
  
+  
  
I'd been working on this mission all day (actually, it felt more and more like a mystery case then a mission) without making any headway. I didn't like that one bit, but this was going to be one of those things that took time.   
  
Zechs looked a little disheartened too, so to cheer him up I ordered a bunch of large pizzas, some coke, and a Jackie Chan movie. How can you go wrong with that combination?   
  
He came in from a shower, idly drying his hair with a towel. I saw him slowly take in the pizzas, the coke, and the open DVD case near the TV. "Dare I ask what you're planning now?"  
  
"Every good agent knows when to take a break and just let things percolate a little." I patted the spot next to me invitingly. "Come watch a movie with me."  
  
Warily he came closer. "What movie?"  
  
"Jackie Chan."  
  
"Jackie who?"  
  
"Okay, its official, now you *have* to watch it with me." Who hadn't heard of Jackie Chan?! Geez. I caught his wrist and tugged him down next to me.   
  
It took about four slices of pizza, and twenty minutes, but he finally relaxed. As we happily devoured about four larges, Zechs and I were laughing our butts off at the movie. I was really sad when it ended. I liked hearing him laugh.   
  
The credits rolled, and Zechs was lying there, stretched out with both hands resting lightly on his stomach. "Oh...I ate too much."  
  
I felt the same way. "How about a nap?"  
  
He quirked a brow at me. "You take naps on missions?"  
  
"No, but dude this mission is completely messed up compared to every other mission I've ever been on."  
  
"...point." He squirmed around a bit, getting more comfortable.   
  
Aww...why can't I be as close to him as I am with the rest of the guys? Then I could snuggle. Darn it. Sighing, I made do with my slice of the couch. Well, at least he isn't protesting about me propping my thighs over his legs...  
  
+  
  
"They're going to take me away, ha ha!"  
  
Uh?  
  
There was a heartbeat under my ear, and warm arms wrapped around my waist. I was so comfortable it was almost sinful. I took in a deep breath, inhaling this clean masculine sent that had me licking my lips in appreciation.   
  
" _\--_ to the Funny Farm _\--_ "  
  
That song was kinda spoiling the moment, though. Wonder where it's coming from...wait, isn't that the ringtone to my cellphone?  
  
Prying open one eye, I flung out an arm and started a semi-blind search for my phone. It was on the coffee table somewhere...aha! I stretched a bit to reach it, then nuzzled back into my very warm body pillow. Turning my head a bit I put the phone on my ear and let gravity just keep it there for me. "...dude, I have no idea who this is but you are totally fired."  
  
<<Duo, you sound like you just woke up.>>  
  
It figures that it would be Heero. The guy's destined to be my alarm clock, by some cosmic karma. "That's cause I was asleep, moron. Now whaddya want?"  
  
<<More information. What you gave me is insufficient to find anything>>  
  
Aw cripes. If Heero couldn't find anything, then we really were sunk.   
  
"Who is it, Duo?"  
  
I moved my head enough to see why my pillow was talking. Ah...my brain finally woke up enough to inform me of two things. One, I had fallen asleep on the other end of the couch. Two, I had failed to consider that I was a very active sleeper and a snuggler before napping right next to the star of my wet dreams last night. Aw shucks. "It's Heero," I replied as calmly as possible.   
  
<<...Duo, who are you talking to?>>  
  
"Zechs."  
  
There was this pregnant pause. <<And why is he sleeping next to you?>>  
  
I winced at the very unhappy growl that accompanied that question. "Chill man, we were taking a nap on the couch."  
  
<<It is not necessary for both of you to share *any* surface while sleeping!>>  
  
"Heero, I have to tell you, I am not in the mood to argue. Let's get back to the information you wanted. I can't give you any more information, because that's all I have. That's all anyone knows. Were you able to find anything at all?"  
  
I could almost hear the battle in Heero's head. Mission mode eventually won out though and he bit off, <<Nothing. There is no evidence that a transaction took place. I could only determine that someone of skill had gotten into the grid to steal the information.>>  
  
I started swearing under my breath. "Understood. Thanks for trying, man." To Zechs I mouthed 'No dice.'  
  
Zechs looked particularly unhappy about that. I shared the sentiment.   
  
<<Now...what's going on with Merquise?>>  
  
"None of your damn business," I caroled back. "Bye, 'Ro."  
  
<<DUO _\--_ >>  
  
*click*  
  
"Heero doesn't strike me as the forgiving type," Zechs observed mildly.   
  
"He hates being hung up on," I confirmed cheerfully. "But I'm too far away for him to smack." As casually as I could manage I pulled myself up and off. Duo Jr. started lodging protests, but I ignored him. My cock does not get a vote on matters of delicacy. "Okay, so, Heero says that there is no electronic proof that something is going on. He could only prove that someone had stolen the data in the first place." I scratched my head thoughtfully. "In this day and age, it's weird to have someone hand deliver info and pay in cash. It's just too risky. It's much safer to do it through computers. Middle men screw things up too often in real life, and it means keeping yourself anonymous. I wonder why..."  
  
"If that's true, then how do you explain the email?"  
  
I blinked at him stupidly. The email...wait, the email didn't jive with that theory. "Hell, you're right. If they're doing everything by hand, then why the email? Unless...unless they started doing things by hand because the email went astray."  
  
He slowly nodded, accepting this point. "You might be right."  
  
I had thought it through some more, though, and started shaking my head. "No, I'm not right. Look, it would be a simple matter to go back to the sent message and see why it hadn't arrived at its destination. This guy, whoever it was, that stole the information has proven that he is a very skilled hacker. So why does a person who can hack into the Preventer's mainframe send info through a common yahoo account, and when it doesn't arrive, just start doing things by hand?"  
  
"That really doesn't make sense."  
  
"Not an ounce of sense," I agreed in frustration. I started pacing up and down in front of the couch, twisting my braid around my hands.   
  
Zechs sat back, thoughtfully watching me. I could see the wheels turning and slowly I stopped pacing to look at him. "What? You're thinking something."  
  
"Just reminded of an old memory. Who's in the hotel, Duo?"  
  
"Actors, spoiled rich kids, and staff." Where was he going with this?  
  
"*Bored* spoiled rich kids."  
  
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Surely he wasn't suggesting...   
  
"You said it yourself. That email sounded like a bet. Whoever it was that hacked the information knew how to do it, but were naïve about what to do with the information once they had it. Doesn't that fit the profile of your average rich kid?"  
  
My god. "Some idiot kid in this hotel is stealing and selling government information as a *joke*?"  
  
"I'm not sure if we can push it that far." Zechs looked oddly distant for a moment, as if he were caught up in a memory. "I think they're doing it just as a dare. I'm not sure if they would actually sell the information."  
  
"Someone is, Zechs." But as I thought about, my gut started telling me he was right. Rich kids would do something that stupid, but they probably would draw the line at consorting with criminals. "Okay, suppose you're right. Who is doing it?"  
  
"They've proven they're careless with the information once they have it. Maybe someone is exploiting that."  
  
That rang true. "It's definitely possible. So...our next move is to figure out who the likely people would be. We've gotta start making a lot of friends, Zechs. We gotta infiltrate the circle."  
  
He nodded firmly. "Yes. Definitely time to make friends. Which hot spot do you want to hit first?"  
  
I thought about it for a moment. Our beach friends had mentioned a few places... "San Andreas Fault."


	4. Rubbing Elbows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Honor A. De'Mandoren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).

I reject your reality and substitute my own!  
_\- Myth Busters_  
  
+  
  
The San Andreas Fault was actually a premier dance club roughly three blocks from the resort. Zechs and I shimmied into leather pants, low heeled boots and then he put on that ice blue shirt I found for him and I put on a dark wine red shirt that let me hide a gun in the back of my pants. (Yes, Trowa finally clued me in on how to hide a gun in skin tight pants, but since that's confidential information I'm not saying another word about it.)  
  
At this point, it must be mentioned how HOT Zechs is in leather. I mean, the man could set the room on fire he was that hot. I had the hardest time not staring...and drooling...and indulging in brief fantasies that didn't involve clothing...  
  
"Duo?"  
  
Eek! I snapped back into the present. Okay, think of some good reason why you were staring at his ass _\--_ "Are you armed somehow?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
I knew better than to ask how or where. Maybe he'd picked up a trick or two from Heero. "Cool. Then let's get this party started."   
  
+  
  
The club was a ritzy one, for obvious reasons. Huge dance floor at the bottom of a small staircase, little tables scattered around at the back, a bar off to the right, then another level that I assumed had more tables. The light was low, and a soft yellow. I could feel the beat of the place and the mood as soon as I cleared the door _\--_ be free, do whatever, no consequences.   
  
Unfortunately, that doesn't apply to me. Everything right now has consequences. I can't be suckered into the mood. Especially not with Zechs right behind me. He was temptation at its most potent.   
  
Our beach buddies were already there, dancing away. One of them spotted us and waved enthusiastically. I waved back, tugging Zechs in that direction.   
  
You couldn't really hear over the music it was so loud, but I can read lips with the best of them. Sharon was the one talking "Hey! I'm so glad you're here! Come join us, the music is incredible."  
  
We joined in, and that's when I learned something very interesting.   
  
My partner is really good at doing a vertical tango.   
  
I mean, when Sharon waved us over I thought to myself 'okay, they're mostly doing the group thing' and joined in. But when I saw how Zechs could move, I was privately lamenting that I couldn't hook my arms around his neck and do some rubbing against that fabulous bod.   
  
Three songs in, and Sharon leaned in close to (sorta) whisper in my ear "Why aren't you guys dancing together?"  
  
That's what I want to know! "Whaddya mean?"  
  
She gave me a weird look. "Well, you're together, right?"  
  
Several things just clicked in that moment. Oh shit. Where has my brain been? Did it take a vacation or something? I had no way to respond to her at that moment, and to cover that up I glanced in surprise down at my waist. I pulled my cellphone free and flicked it open. "Hang on a sec, Sharon. I don't dare ignore this. ZECHS!"  
  
He turned to look at me, brow cocked.   
  
"Relena," I said loudly. "Come on, I'm not dealing with her alone."  
  
He followed me off the dance floor, up the stairs, and into a back corner. With that much distance between us and the speakers on the main floor, we could actually have a conversation without yelling.   
  
"What's going on Duo? There is no way in hell that Relena has your cellphone number, or would ever contemplate calling you."  
  
This man is definitely no slouch in the think tank department. "Dude, we're idiots. We have completely overlooked something."  
  
Zechs just looked at me blankly. "Such as?"  
  
"If you were in someone else's shoes, say Sharon's, and you saw two ex-Gundam pilots show up together, at the same resort, sharing the *same* *room*, what conclusions would you draw?"  
  
His mouth dropped open soundlessly.   
  
"Yup. She just asked me why we weren't dancing together."  
  
Zechs took in a deep breath and let it out. "Right. It would be tedious to explain over and over again that we weren't a couple...and I don't think anyone would believe us. The evidence says otherwise."  
  
...no way. He actually wanted to go along with this? I pinched myself just to make sure I hadn't fallen into one of my lustful day dreams. Ow! Okay, so I was still in reality. "Uh, yeah, you're right. And you're okay with this?"  
  
"Yes," he said simply.   
  
Ow! Nope, still in reality. "Cool. Okay, I propose that we're a new couple, that will explain how we acted beforehand, and in the future if we do something stupid."  
  
Zechs nodded. "Good idea. And Relena doesn't like that we're together, so that's why you dragged me away to deal with her. We can continue to use Relena as a cue that something is going on, and we need to discuss it before going any further."  
  
"Not a bad idea. Okay, anything else we need to straighten out before going back down there?"  
  
He paused, uncertainty scrawled all over his face. "How...intimate do you want to get?"  
  
I *don't* think they'll let us screw each other blind on the dance floor, Zechs. "We'll play that by ear. Zechs...I gotta tell ya, I'm gay, so this whole thing doesn't bother me. But if you're straight, you have to tell me what the limits are now." I was pretty sure he wasn't, probably bi, but this was a beautiful opportunity to clarify things and I wasn't passing it up.   
  
"...I'm not straight. But I'm not into public sex either."  
  
Well now, that was an interesting yard stick he had just handed me. "Cool. Then, let's rock and roll." I held out a hand to him and waited. Slowly he accepted it, and tangled his fingers in with mine. I just knew that I was going to love this mission.   
  
We went back down to the main floor. Sharon, being a girl, wanted to know all the details. "Something wrong?"  
  
"His crazy sister is driving me insane," I replied with a roll of the eyes. Subtly I was tugging Zechs in closer to me.   
  
Everyone near us were giving us these appraising looks, and I could see the light go on in a few heads. Zechs must have picked up on it too, because he slid both hands around my waist and pulled me in possessively. I just melted into him. Call me sentimental, but I love being held like this.   
  
Sharon stepped in closer, trying for a confidential conversation in a crowded room. "So what's changed?"  
  
I managed to blush and look sheepish. "We're new at this, and he's a little shy."  
  
"Oh." Sharon seemed to think that was an adequate explanation for everything, because she started dancing again.   
  
And so did we. I twisted my hips, not-so-accidentally into my partner's hips. Even through the music I heard him hiss sharply and felt his reaction. I'm so bad! I know he's only doing this for the mission, why can't I behave a little?   
  
He turned me sharply so that I was facing him, and brought me in snugly. He rotated us both on the downbeat, bending me almost in half. I followed his lead, one arm slung around his neck to keep my balance. Rubbing up against a sexy guy, one that you can pretend is your boyfriend, needs to be added into my missions from now on.   
  
We must have stayed there for a good three, maybe four hours. We met a ton of people, talked to them some, made arrangements to meet some of them the next day and then left. It was a very good thing that we left when we did. During that time, Zechs and I were almost plastered together dancing, and the building sexual tension was getting to me. If we'd been a normal couple, then we'd have retreated to our room in the resort and worked that sexual tension off.   
  
But we weren't a normal couple, now were we?   
  
When had make-believe become too real to ignore? My whole body was aching for Zechs, and it wasn't a pleasant thing either. I wanted to haul him into a dark corner, and give into the temptation to find out just how his body tasted. But I couldn't do it.   
  
I tried to keep that frustration from my face and body language as we left. I tossed Zechs the keys to the 'vette and let him drive, pretending that I just wanted sleep. The drive was silent on the way back, and I let it stay silent as we made our way up to our room.   
  
I had the keycard in the door when Zechs pressed up against me, breath hot on my neck, pressing his pelvis against me...dominating me. My eyes screwed shut as I fought with my body, fought against the impulse to turn around and let him do whatever he wanted. Mission, Maxwell, he's doing it for the mission _\--_  
  
"I think it's time we stopped lying, don't you?"  
  
My head shot up. "W-what?"  
  
The door fell open under his hand and we stumbled inside. I barely managed to turn around before he had me pinned against the wall. Those ice blue eyes were staring right at me, and I couldn't have evaded them if my life depended on it.   
  
"Stop lying, Duo. If you didn't want me, if you weren't attracted to me, then nothing Sharon or anyone else had said would have mattered. You would have found a way around it, made up some story that would explain why we were here together without compromising the mission."  
  
He's right. I would have. But I wanted so badly to have my hands on him that I'd jumped for the first opportunity, the first excuse I found...and he'd seen through me. I swallowed against my suddenly dry mouth. "Zechs _\--_ "  
  
Waitaminute. I knew why *I* had agreed to this...but why had *he* agreed to it?  
  
He pressed in closer, head lowering. There was a smile in his eyes that was captivating my full attention. "I can see it on your face. You just realized it. I gave you every hint I could think of, and you never took the bait until tonight."  
  
Later, I would figure out what hints. Later, I would think about why he'd finally said something. Later, I would wonder if we had locked the door. Right this minute, I just had to kiss him.   
  
He tasted like warm sunshine, and male, and some tart flavor that was all Zechs. Someone groaned low as our tongues tangled, not that it mattered who. What did matter was that there were too many clothes in the way.   
  
Zechs was of the same mind. He started tugging my shirt off about the same time I started arguing with his. We might have been able to do it smoother if we could stop kissing each other, but personally I didn't care to stop kissing him anytime soon. Maybe next century.   
  
The shirts hit the floor with soft 'whumps'. My hands were already roving, over smooth skin and muscle. He shivered, or hummed in soft delight as I learned what places he liked touched, and how his body was shaped. His hair was soft against my skin, and I ran my fingers through the edge of it a few times, feeling absurdly giddy that I could.   
  
I wasn't built like Zechs. I was more like an alley cat, lean and tough. But damn if the man didn't home in on all of my sensitive spots. He stopped kissing me to nibble on a particularly sensitive spot on my neck, and I only allowed this because the man knew exactly what to do with that tongue.   
  
His hands had been roving too, learning what my body felt like, but I felt him hesitate at the waistline of my pants. He was wondering how far he could push this...I was wondering too. I didn't do one-night stands, or mission flings. At the same time, I was so hard it was painful and if he stopped now, I would in fact break down and cry like a girl. "Don't stop," I moaned into his shoulder.   
  
He still hesitated, head lifting to look at me. "This won't stop here."  
  
I grinned up at him fiercely. "If I thought you were just using me for stress relief, Merquise, you'd be in a world of pain right now."  
  
He grinned back _\--_ and unlaced the front of my pants to slide his hand in. My breath caught as his hand wrapped around me, tugging me free. "Oh god." Then he started moving that hand, and I swear fireworks started going off. "Ohgodohgodohgod."  
  
I couldn't just stand there and let him touch me, I'd go crazy. I jerked his pants free and started exploring what that leather had been hiding all night. Enough brain cells were still working to inform me that Zechs was hung like a stallion, and he really liked it when I lightly rubbed my nails against his skin.   
  
At some point we started feeding off each other's mouths like starving men, hands working over each other's erections. Minutes, hours, days, I couldn't tell you how much time passed before I lost control. My climax jerked out of me so hard and fast I almost fainted. My knees definitely couldn't hold up to the strain and started buckling.   
  
Zechs groaned low, trembling a little as he climaxed in my hand. Judging from how he was swaying a little, his knees were mutinying on him too.   
  
We stood there, breathing in each other's mouths, and just looking at the other. I had no idea what to say. Whatever came to mind seemed like the wrong thing to blurt out at this moment. This was happening a little too fast for me, but not fast enough at the same time.   
  
Finally he broke the silence. "Floor or bed?"  
  
I looked at the bed behind him. Maybe ten feet away. Way too far. "Floor."  
  
"I'm so glad you said that," he muttered with a smile playing around his mouth.   
  
Thankfully we both sank to the floor. Zechs pulled me against him before I could wonder if he wanted to snuggle a bit. I sank onto his chest with a sigh of part relief, and part contentment. Oh good...I was wondering if he were too 'macho' to snuggle. It would have been a definite point of friction between us if he only wanted to touch during sex or something.   
  
A short eon later, curiosity finally won out over afterglow, and I twisted so I could look at his face. "Zechs?"  
  
He peeked open an eye at me. "Let me guess. You want to know why I didn't say anything before this."  
  
I grinned at him and nuzzled a little against his jawline. "You're so gosh darned intelligent, Zechsy."  
  
"Brat," he grunted at me. "If you must know, I..." With a deep breath he gathered up my hair in both hands, staring straight into my eyes. "I never thought I had a chance with you, Duo. I thought there was just too much history, too much opposition. And then you reached out and helped me. Why did you do that?"  
  
I have no idea. It had been impulse on my part. I was bored, he needed help, we both wanted to be somewhere else than Relena's stupid party. "I just...I never thought of you as my enemy, Zechs. You were just someone I didn't really know."  
  
He shook his head, almost laughing at himself. "So the only barriers were the ones I had created... Thank god for your friendly nature. Otherwise none of this would have happened."  
  
Thinking back on that moment...I had to agree with him. Feeling mischievous (and yes, I will admit it, horny) I rubbed up against him. "I can be a lot friendlier."  
  
His eyes went smoky blue as he rolled and put me underneath him.   
  
It was a long, long time before we managed to get off that floor.


	5. Epiphanies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Honor A. De'Mandoren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).

Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change.  
_\- Frank Lloyd Wright_  
  
+  
  
It was maybe ten when I woke up. Zechs was spooned up behind me, a very warm and solid presence. Smiling to myself, I just laid there and soaked up the moment. Ah, to snuggle with a sexy man early in the morning...could this day get any better?   
  
We hadn't done a lot of talking the night before, just enough to be assured that we were on the same page. This wasn't a one night stand, this wasn't a brief fling because we were hot for each other. Zechs wanted a real relationship, and I wasn't about to let go of him anytime soon. He was MINE, mine, mine, mine.   
  
He stirred sleepily behind me, nuzzling in more. "Mm."  
  
"Morning," I murmured to him softly.   
  
"Mm," he replied.   
  
There is one potential drawback to this relationship. Neither of us were morning people. Now who was supposed to bring me my coffee? "Zechs."  
  
"...wha?"  
  
"We have to move."  
  
He made this noise, something between a growl of disagreement and a mewl of distaste, then he settled again and went back to sleep. Not exactly the response I was going for. "Zechs."  
  
An unfocused blue eye peeked at me behind his bangs. "'m not moving."  
  
Yup, definitely not a morning person. Normally I would agree with him, but I absolutely had to take a shower. I was sticky _\--_ neither Zechs or I had been able to let go of each other long enough to clean up _\--_ and my hair was a complete mess. Besides, I was hoping to do something about the carpet burns on my back and shoulders. Sighing, I started pulling free. "Let me up. I'll shower first."  
  
He protested a little, mumbling something about me being warm and comfy, but let go when I started dragging him out of the bed with me. Apparently he was willing to sacrifice me for the greater cause of sleep.   
  
I feel SO loved.  
  
Half-asleep, I stumbled into the bathroom. As I started the water going, I looked at the towel rack to make sure that the maid had stocked up on towels. With two people having long hair, we went through towels really fast. There was two fluffy ones...I guess that will work. For me. Zechs would be in a spot, though. I made a mental note to request more towels, then stepped into the hot spray of water.   
  
Ahhh...hot water. I can forgive the cretin that invented working hours just because some genius invented hot showers. Love it, love it, love it. I had shampoo in my hair, and was working it through to the end when the light went on.   
  
DUH!  
  
Snatching up a towel, I sprinted out of the bathroom, damn near killing myself as I tripped over the lip of the shower, and into the bedroom. "ZECHS!"  
  
He might not be a morning person, but he was a soldier. He was upright in bed with a gun out in about two seconds. "What?!"  
  
"We're idiots!"  
  
"...not again." Sighing, he put the gun back under his pillow. "Now what did we overlook?"  
  
"What is the one person that a rich kid will never notice? The one person that has complete access to this resort without question?"  
  
His eyes went wide. "Staff."  
  
"Bingo! The cleaning people can get their hands on anything of ours whenever they want!" I could tell by the way that his eyes had glassed over that I had lost his attention. "Zechs?"  
  
"Duo," he croaked, "either go back to your shower or get dressed."  
  
It suddenly dawned on me that I was half-naked, and dripping wet. Oh-ho. "Aw, poor Zechsy. Are you having a hard time focusing with my fine, manly physique being displayed in front of you?"  
  
"Yes," he growled back. "And if you want to get all of that shampoo out of your hair, you'll go *finish* your shower."  
  
Turning around, I sauntered back into the bathroom. "You know Zechs," I called over my shoulder, "you can always join me."  
  
That's when I let the towel drop to the floor, and disappeared back into the bathroom.   
  
Funny, it took about two hours to get all of that shampoo out of my hair. Wonder why...  
  
+  
  
After all that extended foreplay in the hot water, we managed to get our hormones under control and back to business. We did promise to meet someone for lunch (and barely managed to get there on time) but as soon as we were in our rooms, it was back to the old ball and chain.   
  
Assuming that Zechs's theory about bored rich kids was right on (and I think it was, it just made too much sense) and my theory about the staff was right, there was a lot of footwork to do. The first thing we had to figure out was the people who normally trafficked the area. Heh. You know what that means.   
  
Security footage.   
  
"Zechs~!" I whined.   
  
"Duo, it was your idea."  
  
"But I don't want to do it! It's boring."  
  
"It needs to be done," he replied placidly. Of course he can be placid, he was doing something that was remotely more interesting, namely updating Une on what we had figured out and our suspicions on what was going on. My lover had the brilliant idea of asking for background on the people staying at the resort. We'd have a better idea of knowing who had the schooling and experience to hack into systems that way.   
  
Moodily I sank back into my chair and hit the fast-forward button again. I may have to watch all of this footage to figure out all the players involved, but I didn't have to do it at normal speed!   
  
"Hey Zechs?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I have this brilliant idea. Let's just blow the resort up."  
  
"...and how is that going to help?"  
  
"Well, for one thing, it would make me feel loads better."  
  
"Duo, I know you're bored but just hang on for another ten minutes and then I'll help."  
  
See, my sex appeal can be useful. I can charm people into doing my share of the work.   
  
"They're going to take me away, ha-ha!"  
  
Yes! Distraction! I snatched my phone up and flipped it open. "The charming, beautiful, sexy Duo Maxwell is speaking."  
  
<<Duo, I want to talk to my brother.>>  
  
...security footage isn't that bad, really. I see that now. It's all a matter of perspective. "Er, he's sort of busy..."  
  
<<NOW, Duo.>>  
  
Better Zechs than me. I handed him the phone. "Your insane stalker sister is on the phone."  
  
Zechs grimaced at me, but answered it dutifully. "Yes, Relena."  
  
I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he sat there for a full five minutes without saying a word. Judging from the way he started frowning, Relena was ranting about something. Probably me.   
  
"Relena, shut up. I said SHUT UP. I've put up with this for over a year, but I'm tired of you sticking your head in the sand. Duo isn't some kind of player, and he certainly hasn't been influencing me in any way about you. Let me spell out a few home truths, shall I? One, Heero is not interested in you. If I've read the signs right, he's more interested in having a love affair with his laptop than you."  
  
I choked, putting both hands over my mouth to keep from laughing.   
  
"Two, I'm not interested in dating women. Not your society friends, and not Noin or any other woman." She said something in response to that, and his expression became murderous. "Relena, I've known since I was sixteen that I had no interest in women like that. Duo had nothing to do with my feelings on the matter."  
  
Why, why does she see me as some kind of Casanova?   
  
Abruptly Zechs's temper snapped. I could tell, and memorized that expression for future reference. My Lightning Count goes really quiet and still when he loses his temper. "Relena, *be* *quiet*. I will only say this once. Duo is not to be blamed for your ugly temperament. And if you ever again belittle my lover in my hearing, you'll never know what hit you." Quite calmly he snapped the phone shut and handed it to me.   
  
I was nearly moved to tears. "You..." admitted to the one family member you have left that I was your lover. Knowing that she'd be pissed, you did it.   
  
There was this soft, gentle smile on his face when he leaned in close and kissed me. "You are much more important to me than she is."  
  
My voice was a little shaky when I replied, and I was smiling so broadly that my face felt like it was split in half. "Gee, Merquise, thanks for the compliment."  
  
He chuckled softly and kissed me again. "Let me finish this report, love."  
  
Love. He called me love. "Sure, babe."  
  
I saw his eyes sparkle at the endearment, right before he went back to typing at his computer.   
  
Somehow, looking at security footage just wasn't boring after that.   
  
I kinda expected Relena to start calling people and ranting, and was not in the least surprised when Quatre called me about ten minutes later. "Hey, Q."  
  
<<Duo, I just had a very interesting phone call.>>  
  
"From Relena, in which she told you that me and Zechs were lovers and what were you going to do about it," I finished for him dryly.   
  
<<...yes, precisely. She wasn't just raving, apparently.>>  
  
"Nope." I winked at my lover when I said it. "Any questions?"  
  
<<When? How? Is this a permanent thing or am I going to have to pick up the pieces when this mission is over?>>  
  
"When? Last night. How? Zechs pinned me to the wall and ah...persuaded me to see things from his point of view. And yes, it's quite permanent." Prudently I added, "Make sure to tell the guys that first, will ya?" We have a tendency to jump to conclusions in our 'family' and if the conclusions are bad ones, well...we're also trained to shoot first and ask questions later. I didn't want my lover full of holes, thank you very much.   
  
<<Can do. I better let you go now. I think Relena's calling everyone, and I need to start on damage control.>>  
  
I grimaced, but he was probably right. "Go. Tell them to call me if they have questions."  
  
<<Right. Bye, Duo! ...wait, one last question. You guys are using protection right?>>  
  
I just know my face was heating up. I carefully didn't look at Zechs. "We're not exactly to that level yet, okay? Now, mother, go do your job."  
  
<<Now, Duo, there's no need to be embarrassed.>>  
  
"Embarrassed my ass, you just want details! Hentai!"  
  
He had the absolute gall to giggle. <<Bye, Duo. Say hi to Zechs for me.>>  
  
"Perverted, horny little bugger," I grumbled to my phone. With a sigh I filled Zechs in. "Relena is calling everyone. Quatre was calling to see what was fiction and what wasn't. He'll straighten everyone else out for us so we can focus on our job."  
  
"Ah. And the reason why you're beet red is because...?"  
  
"Because the rat was digging for dirt, that's why," I growled. Curse my fair skin, it always gets me into trouble.   
  
Zechs grinned. He seemed to find this whole thing vastly amusing.   
  
I stuck my tongue out at him and went back to my security footage. At least they didn't talk back.   
  
+  
  
The security footage did tell us a couple of things. One, there was only three people that weren't part of the normal traffic. Two of them were apparently prospective employees that hadn't been hired, cause I never saw them again after that one interview. But the third guy I did see, twice.   
  
Mr. Fatso.  
  
Fatso was middle-aged, roughly my height and about as round as he was tall. He was very careful to never let his face be caught on film, and to wear gloves to not leave any fingerprints behind. In this kind of heat, the gloves were very conspicuous.   
  
"It's gotta be him," I muttered to Zechs.   
  
"Probably," he agreed thoughtfully. "Who's the woman meeting with him?"  
  
Now there was where our luck had improved. The cleaning lady didn't have the same common sense to hide her face, and with a twitch of my fingers and the magic words, I promptly ID her. "Margaret Halloway, on staff for eight years. Shall I tell you her shoe size?"  
  
"I'm more interested in the rooms she's over."  
  
I tapped into the resort's main frame and cross-referenced her name with the schedule. "Second floor, rooms 200 to 300." I did some more checking and added, "Half of those rooms are empty right now."  
  
"And can you tell me who is in what rooms?"  
  
"Yup." In something under ten seconds I had it all up on screen and ready to print. "Let's start comparing that list to the one Une gave us, shall we?"  
  
Zechs leaned in close and pressed a kiss against my temple, a sweet gesture that melted me like so much butter sitting in the microwave. "You're brilliant, you know that?"  
  
"I have my moments." My voice was a little husky. Now was not the time to pull Zechs onto the nearest available flat surface and do interesting patterns on his body with my tongue _\--_ argh, why did I have to think that?! Now the visual is making me even more horny!  
  
"Duo?"  
  
He's got this little amused smile on his face that makes him look even sexier, if that is possible. "What?"  
  
"You're looking a little...flushed."  
  
I gave him my most evil, frustrated, this-is-all-your-fault glare. "That's because you're leaning over me and you're being all sweet and sexy."  
  
He smirked and stepped back a foot. "Does that help?"  
  
At the first available opportunity, I am so paying him back for this. "You get your tight, sexy ass back over here buster. If you think you can just stir me up then walk away, you're crazy!"  
  
+  
  
It took about an hour (after being 'distracted' that is), but we came up with three suspects based on the info that Une sent us, and the info we had hacked. "Their names even sound snooty," I muttered.   
  
"It's going to mean serious trouble if it's them," Zechs sighed. "Churchill is of course of *the* Churchills, and his father has a lot of political power. Nottingham is just as bad as the other, and Victoria Wooten is of very old money. We're going to have to be careful on how we collect evidence. Any loopholes, and they're going to slip free."  
  
"They're going to get off easy no matter what we do," I pointed out dryly. "They have the money and connections to do it. And if we're right, then they aren't guilty of anything more serious than stupidity, so they don't really deserve a stiff sentence."  
  
"Why do I hear a 'but' in there somewhere?"  
  
"But," I gave him a Shinigami grin, fierce and blood thirsty, "I really want to nail them for this. Their criminal stupidity has probably already cost lives."  
  
"So how do you propose we catch them?"  
  
"By being particularly evil and sneaky, naturally."


	6. Nuts and Bolts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Honor A. De'Mandoren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).

To err is human. To really screw things up you need a computer.  
  
\+   
  
I said criminally stupid, but I was far off the mark. These guys are so stupid that they should be nominated for Darwin Awards. I mean, they might be brilliant enough to graduate from Harvard and hack into Heero's mainframe, and yadda, yadda, but do you know what they had to protect their personal laptops?  
  
Nothing.  
  
Zilch, zip, nadda. A basic 'user login' screen. That's it. For the love of Mike, I use that program to pick my teeth with!   
  
It took a pathetic five minutes with each person to completely copy over their hard drive over. I didn't even bother to wait until night to sneak in, just popped in during lunch. Why try to hide? I had complete control over the cameras after all.   
  
Zechs blinked at me in surprise when I walked back into our room twenty minutes later. "You're done already?"  
  
"Yup. You would not believe how easy it was. It makes me almost sorry for the idiots." I sat down at my laptop and loaded the ghost versions over, then sent it in a tight beam mail to Heero. He was the computer expert, not I. He could sit there and whittle away at all that data until he found the electronic trail we needed to prove who did what.   
  
I couldn't help but tinker with it a bit, though. I opened up the ghost drives and did a quick peek at the email systems, and a few of the more invasive programs. Christopher Nottingham had definitely been hacking something, but I couldn't see any proof that it had been the Preventer's main frame. Hm.   
  
David Churchill, on the other hand, had definitely been in there. Can you believe that the info he'd hacked was *still* saved to his hard drive? I mean, COME ON! How stupid can you get?! You delete that kind of stuff before you turn off your computer, before you take a breath or anything!   
  
Victoria Wooten was a little smarter _\--_ the info wasn't saved to her hard drive, but she hadn't bothered to cover her tracks either. I rolled my eyes heaven wards. "Zechs."  
  
"Hm?" His eyes were trained on his computer. Probably updating Une again.   
  
"Christopher Nottingham and Victoria Wooten. We have 'em dead in the water."  
  
His head snapped up and around at that. "You're serious?"  
  
"Dead serious. They didn't bother to cover their tracks, it's obvious that these two were in there."  
  
"Damn. And Churchill?"  
  
I shook my head. "I didn't see anything, but I wasn't very thorough in looking either. He's been hacking something, that much I could tell. I just didn't recognize the handle. Heero will be able to tell us."  
  
"Ah. About that..." he gave his computer a glance before giving me a wry smile. "Lady Une just emailed me. Heero and Wufei are on their way."  
  
...Heero and Wufei. The two that were the most paranoid and protective of 'family' were coming. Awwwww....*nuts*. "Couldn't she have sent Quatre instead of one of them?! At least Quatre will listen before shooting!"  
  
"It's not going to be that bad," Zechs soothed.   
  
Yes, it was. "When do they arrive?"  
  
"Late. Their plane should land at nine."  
  
I glanced at the clock. It was one now. Hm...eight hours for some steamy sex sounded about right. I started idly tugging at the top of my shirt, letting the buttons slip open. "Well, looks like we have some down time."  
  
Zechs's eyes were glued to my fingers, and the bit of skin showing. His tongue flickered out to moisten his lips. "...did you lock the door?"  
  
"Mm-hm." I crooked a finger at him.   
  
I've never seen a human being move so fast in my life. He's not called the 'Lightning Count' for nothing.   
  
+  
  
Life is strange. Really strange. Only life would deal you with the strange conundrum of wanting to run away from two of your best friends.   
  
I sat contemplating this great mystery as Zechs and I waited in the airport for Heero and Wufei. I wasn't as worried about Wuffels as I was worried about 'Ro. 'Fei actually had a good grasp on being objective. (Translation: he asks questions before shooting.)   
  
Heero was another matter entirely. I know for a fact that he views Zechs as a rival, and can't really think of him as an 'ally'. And if Heero Yuy doesn't think of someone as an ally, he sure as hell isn't going to trust them with one of his 'family'.   
  
Urk.   
  
Why me?  
  
"Heads up, lover," Zechs murmured with hidden amusement. "They're here."  
  
Awwwww...*nuts*. I sprang out of my chair, looking around until I spotted them coming from the terminal. A part of me was actually happy to see them, which is why my body took over and had me running right toward them, then slinging them both into a bear hug. "Hi guys!"  
  
Wufei sighed and put up with me, Heero just grunted before shouldering me off. One of these days, many years from now, I will condition them to hug back _\--_ it might take some major personality surgery, but my goal will be realized. "So, good flight, bad flight or did you just sleep through it?"  
  
"Good flight," Wufei answered calmly. "If you discount Heero's dark mutterings."  
  
I was afraid of that.   
  
Speaking of Heero, he was giving Zechs a nasty glare. Then that glare switched over to me. "We need to talk."  
  
"You need to chill," I retorted. "And I know what your hand is wrapped around, Heero, and you can just put that gun right back in its holster. Geez, didn't anyone teach you not to bring weapons through an airport?"  
  
Wufei pinned a glare on him too. "Put it away, Heero. Sally will murder you if you shoot another agent, justified or not. I'm not doing any paperwork on a 'friendly fire' incident."  
  
Grudgingly he did so but was one unhappy camper about it. His glare at Zechs could have melted gundanium. Why, *why* did Une have to send Heero out here and not someone rational?   
  
I might as well start dealing with it. "Well chilicans, let's get your bags and go back to the hotel, shall we?"  
  
"We have our bags," Wufei corrected while hefting the duffle in his hands. "Let's go."  
  
Shoulda figured.   
  
Zechs wisely stayed at my side without speaking a word the entire trip out to the car. He and Heero were exchanging loaded glares, however, over my head. This was not a pleasant experience. I made Heero drive just so he couldn't glare at anyone during the trip to the hotel.   
  
I spent the drive filling the two in on the bit of progress we had made since the last official update. Heero confirmed what I already knew _\--_ we had one suspect and two confirmed idiots. I was relieved to hear that he had a solid line of electronic evidence, enough to take them to trial.   
  
This mutual exchange of information lasted until we were in the hotel room, door closed behind us. Then someone threw a hidden switch and we were suddenly discussing my love life.   
  
"Just how did this happen?" Heero growled at me. "And why *him*?"  
  
I batted my eyelashes at him and answered sweetly, "To answer both questions _\--_ because he's damn sexy."  
  
Wufei sighed, looking martyred and ready to just strangle us both to put us out of his misery. "Quatre mentioned that you were together, and a little of how it happened. The only thing he was sure of was that this was a permanent relationship."  
  
That last held a question to it, and I nodded firmly. "Yes."  
  
Zechs finally decided to say something, and came close enough to slide an arm around my waist and tug me back against his body. (And yes, I absolutely adore it when he holds me like this so I snuggled right in making kittenish noises of pleasure.) "This is very permanent," he confirmed in that low voice of his. "Heero, as much as we've been rivals in the past, this is one thing that I'm *not* going to fight with you about. I've already won this battle."  
  
Heero's scowl went scary. "I'm not convinced you can make him happy. And what about Relena?"  
  
"What about her?" Zechs retaliated.   
  
"She's your family," he challenged. "And she doesn't like the fact that you are with Duo."  
  
"And you think I'll give him up to please her?" Zechs shook his head, clearly exasperated. "Heero, don't be stupid. If you were in my shoes, would *you* choose Relena over Duo?"  
  
Wufei snorted. "Say yes to that, Heero, and I'm finding you a shrink."  
  
He clammed up, apparently at a loss of what to say or think, and not happy about it. Great. That means it was up to me. I pulled away from Zechs, giving him a silent look that asked for a little privacy. He nodded in return, retreating into the bedroom. I was infinitely glad we had a suite at that moment. When the door closed behind him, I looked Heero dead in the eye. "What's the problem?"  
  
All of his anger faltered and finally fell heavily at his feet. "...do you really love him?"  
  
"Yes, Heero, I really do," I answered gently.   
  
He deflated even more, eyes glued to the floor. "Then you'll move in with him."  
  
"..." Oh. Ack. I shot Wufei a desperate look, hoping I wasn't connecting all the dots into the right pattern.   
  
Wufei had a worried frown on his face that wasn't reassuring. "Heero...you must realize that we are all going to find someone to love, someone that we will spend the rest of our lives with."  
  
"...I know." His voice was so small I could barely hear him. "But I didn't think it would be this soon."  
  
Kriminately! During all of this, it never really hit me that I would eventually (probably sooner than later) move in with Zechs. It was a natural step in a relationship. Well...actually, he might be moving in with me considering his insane stalker sister.   
  
Quatre had bought this huge house for all of us to live in, partly because of Heero. We'd all planned on staying in the same city just because we didn't want to lose track of each other, but we hadn't considered staying in the same house until Quatre had secretly taken each of us aside and explained that he was worried about Heero. Our paranoid friend had been floundering in this sudden peace, and trying to get accustomed to living on his own during the upheaval had been too much strain. We'd agreed easily to living together for his benefit...and now, only six months after the war had ended, Heero was facing the possibility again of losing one of his 'family' and didn't know how to handle it.   
  
Aw shit.   
  
Acting on sheer impulse I glomped him. "Stay here," I ordered sternly. Like the Tazmanian Devil I was through the bedroom door, shutting it quickly behind me. "Zechs, we gotta talk living arrangements real fast."  
  
He had been in the process of doing something on his laptop but paused at my abrupt entrance. "Uh?"  
  
"Look, I'm not sure how much you know about all of us, so I'll explain real quick. We all decided to live in the same house because Heero didn't want to lose any of us and he was having a hard enough time trying to adjust to peace so we just had Quatre buy us a house and we all moved in together but we never discussed what might happen in the future and that's why Heero's balking because he assumes that because we're lovers I'm going to move back out and into a place somewhere with you and he really isn't prepared for that eventuality and that's why he's so upset so how do you feel about just moving into my room at home?"  
  
It took a second for Zechs to drag his jaw back into place. "Did you even breathe saying all that?"  
  
"Zechs!" I whined. "Just answer the freakin' question!"  
  
"Duo, of course I'll move in with you," he answered in exasperation. "Our only other choice is the Sanc Palace _\--_ "  
  
"Over my cold rotting corpse," I denied vehemently.   
  
" _\--_ or some apartment or house that Relena can descend upon any time she wants. At least at your house we'll have back-up when we need it. Besides..." a small, rueful smile quirked his lips "I'd like to be counted as one of your number."  
  
I glomped him too, just because he was so sweet and irresistible. He hugged me back hard, something I truly enjoyed. "Cool. So come tell him that."  
  
Zechs followed me back out of the door, meeting Heero's bewildered stare with a rueful smile. "Heero, there is no way in hell that I'm going to ask Duo to move into Sanc Palace, and I'm not really willing to find our own place just yet. Relena will invade it constantly, not giving us any peace. Duo wants me to move in with all of you _\--_ can you agree to that?"  
  
For the first time in my life, I saw Heero smile. A full-blown, honest to freakin' god smile. "Hai," he whispered. Then as an afterthought he added, "But if you don't treat him right, I'm still breaking every bone in your body."  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes. "And that's only after Duo's extracted his revenge out of you."  
  
Zechs shrugged, untroubled by these observations. "I'll never give him reason to be upset with me, so I don't have anything to worry about. Is there anything else we need to discuss, or are we done counting coup for the evening?"  
  
They exchanged glances, then shook their heads almost simultaneously.   
  
"Good!" I beamed at them. "So who's ordering in dinner? I'm starving."


	7. Loose Ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> by Honor A. De'Mandoren

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."   
_-Albert Einstein_  
  
\+   
  
Victoria Wooten was going to leave late tomorrow morning, which gave us a very tight schedule to work off of. We had to plant some bait for Mr. Fatso before that point. If we were to ever shut down the original buyer for the info then Mr. Fatso would have to be followed back to the nest.   
  
Heero worked up some false intel that looked pretty authentic, and I snuck it into Churchill's, Wooten's and Nottingham's room. Then we went in shifts watching the three rooms, waiting for our unsuspecting cleaning lady.   
  
Roughly eight-thirty the next morning she came in (pretty much on schedule) and started cleaning. Wufei was on watch at that point and signaled us quickly. "Here she is."  
  
The lady knew something about computers. She went through all three pretty quickly and burned it to a cd, which went into her pocket afterwards.   
  
"Okay," I muttered in grim satisfaction. "If she stays in the same pattern as before, then she'll call Mr. Fatso from a cell phone and wait for him during her break in an hour." That's what she had done the previous two times, anyway. "Which means I have about two hours before it's time to play some tag. Time for Shinigami to go to work."  
  
"Not alone," Zechs protested immediately. "I'm going with you."  
  
I kissed him softly. "Sorry, babe, but you're too conspicuous."  
  
"I'll go," Heero growled.   
  
"You're trigger happy. No way." I matched him glare for glare on this one. No way was I going out with Heero in this kind of mood.   
  
Wufei sighed. "I'll go."  
  
...actually, Wufei was pretty good at being sneaky. "Yeah, you'll work. Get ready, 'Fei."  
  
+  
  
Now, Fatso was pretty paranoid. Not as paranoid as Heero, but definitely up there on the scale. 'Fei and I had a pretty hard time keeping up with him without getting spotted.   
  
For about three hours we weaved our way into the seedier sections of the city, and then into the really bad area. It made me think of L2 _\--_ not in a good way. "Stick close, 'Fei," I muttered while tugging my hat lower over my eyes.   
  
He nodded back grimly, and became my living shadow.   
  
Fatso went straight to his buyer. I could tell from the look of the building _\--_ subtle differences, perhaps, but the outside looked worse than the inside. All buyer's houses looked like this. It was a way of them hiding from any local law enforcement. 'Fei and I spread out a little, placing little electronic tracers around the premises, generally 'painting' the area. Then we pulled out again and walked casually a block away.   
  
Wuffers pulled out his cell phone and made a quick call. "Done. Everything's in place. Go."  
  
I felt sorry for Fatso. He just led a few SWAT teams to his buyer's front door. Excuse me while I snicker.   
  
Once we were back into the 'nicer' part of town, Wufei relaxed enough to comment idly, "I thought for sure that you would stay and help."  
  
"I invite you to imagine the response I'd get if I let Shinigami play." Not that I hadn't been tempted.  
  
Wufei thought about it seriously for all of about three tenths of a second. "...if Zechs didn't kill you, Heero would."  
  
"Precisely. Besides, I'd rather eat post-mission pizza than dodge bullets."  
  
"Hn," he agreed with a slight smile. "Stage two."  
  
"Right." I called up Zechs as we walked. "Hey, lover."  
  
<Duo.> There was relief in that one word. <Did you succeed?>  
  
"Yup. Time to implement stage two."  
  
<Acknowledged. Are you on your way back?>  
  
"Yeah. Do me a favor and order six large deluxe pizzas. I'm starving."  
  
He started chuckling. <Already ordered, love. They should be here in fifteen minutes.>  
  
"Okeedokee. Be there soon." Fifteen minutes? We were twenty minutes away from the hotel at this rate. Quickly hanging up, I grabbed Wufei's arm and started running. *Definitely* time to speed things up.  
  
"What's the problem?" Wufei snapped in panic as he raced along at my side.   
  
"I don't want cold pizza!" I snapped back.   
  
"..."  
  
+  
  
By six that evening, I could finally take a break. The maid was arrested, as well as the three idiot hackers that had started all this (Churchill was still a bit of an unknown, but *he* didn't know that and he had broken down in babbling confessions before the handcuffs had closed on his wrists) the manager was once again calm (he'd panicked badly when I had briefed him on what was going on) and best of all, it was just me and Zechs left in the room. Wufei was out interrogating people _\--_ something he adores doing, and I am only too happy to leave him to it _\--_ and Heero was going through all the video footage and security system for the hotel, copying anything over that he thought might be needed for the trial. Knowing his anal tendencies, he was going to be there for a LONG time.   
  
Naturally, all of this only spelt one thing out in my mind _\--_ time to make the mattress dance!  
  
My sexy lover and I worked off some tension, then went another round just because we enjoying shagging each other's lights out. We were understandably exhausted by the witching hour, and sound asleep.   
  
That was why *she* appeared, naturally.   
  
I was snatched from the dregs of sleep by having cold water dumped over me. Waking up in a cardiac arrest isn't fun, and I was glaring at the idiot that had dared to do such a stupid stunt even before my eyes were fully focused.   
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I snarled at Relena. And how the hell did she get in?!  
  
She averted her eyes, lips pursed. "Put something on. I don't wish to see you in such an indecent state."  
  
"You're the one that walked into our bedroom at midnight," Zechs snapped back. He dragged his hair out of his face, looking ready to kill. "What are you doing *here*?"  
  
"I've come to take you home."  
  
You have *got* to be freakin' kidding me. I turned disbelieving eyes onto my lover. "Did she just say what I thought she said?"  
  
"She's always been delusional," Zechs muttered darkly. "Relena, I'm on a mission. I'm frankly surprised that you knew where I was."  
  
Considering all the times she found Heero during the war...I wasn't as surprised. Resigned, but not surprised.   
  
She tossed her hair back irritably. "This childish nonsense of yours has to stop, Milliardo. You don't have time to play cop."  
  
Yup, that did it. If there is one thing about my lover that I understand, it's that he hates to feel inadequate or patronized in any way. Zechs threw the covers back, swinging his legs out of bed. Relena predictably screeched like an offended maiden and spun to put her back to the bed. It was a poor strategic move on her part; she had no idea what Zechs was doing with him in her blind spot.   
  
He did take a second to throw on a robe, then he caught her arm forcefully and dragged her out of the bedroom and into the living room. As he walked, he growled loudly over her protests, "I am not your brother. I am officially cutting myself off from the family as soon as business starts up tomorrow morning. And don't try and 'patch things up' with me, Relena, because I can assure you that will not happen. Not anytime within this millennia!"   
  
I didn't see it, but I heard her yelp as she was shoved out the door, heard her thump against something hard _\--_ probably the wall _\--_ then the door slammed in her face, locked, and the couch moved in front of it.   
  
Yup, I say he's pissed.   
  
Grinning, I pulled out my cell phone as I switched to the other bed (I wasn't sleeping in a wet bed, no way no how). It was still nine o'clock where the guys were, so I knew a certain person would still be up. It rang twice before it was picked up.   
  
<Duo. Isn't it a bit late your time?>  
  
"Yeah, well..." I smiled at Zechs as he came in, mouthing 'Trowa' so he would know what I was up to. "Tro, how would you like to piss off Relena?"  
  
< Highlight of my day. Orders?>  
  
"Go to the palace, have Zechs's stuff packed up _\--_ especially his game room _\--_ and move him into my room, will ya?"  
  
Zechs brightened up, joining me and snuggling in with an irrepressible smile on his face.   
  
<This isn't a suicide mission is it?>  
  
"Naw. Relena is here _\--_ that's why we're awake, she did the honors of dumping a bucket of cold water over us. You have at least eight hours to do the deed."  
  
<Ahh. All is now explained. Acknowledged. Barton, out.>  
  
That's what I love about Tro. He gets the vision real fast. I tossed the phone onto the nightstand, and cuddled up to Zechs. "See? Now, with the Gundam team at your disposal, you'll never have to deal with Relena again."  
  
"That is a very handy side benefit," Zechs agreed softly.   
  
We lay there in silence for some time, just holding each other. I was damn near asleep when I felt him stir a little. "Hm?"  
  
"I was just thinking...maybe we should take Une out for dinner."  
  
"Uh...why?"  
  
"As a thank you. If she hadn't paired me up with you on this mission, my life wouldn't have been changed."   
  
Life as it had been going...with no Zechs, and a Relena popping up all the time. Hm. "Yeah, I say a thank you is definitely in order."   
  
~*~*~   
  
OWARI


End file.
